Mardi Gras 2013

I can’t believe I’m posting on a Saturday.  Since its carnival season, I had to put an extra post out.

Mardi Gras is now in full effect. Parades started yesterday with the Krewe of Oshun and the Krewe of Cleopatra.  I hadn’t gone out to see Oshun in a while and judging from what I saw last night…I haven’t missed much.

Oshun was sad….terribly sad.  They seemed to rush through the parade and they barely threw anything at all. Kinda sad because the crowd was pretty decent…more folks than I expected to see out there.

The Krewe of Cleopatra no longer parades on the westbank.  Now that they’re on the uptown route, I was finally able to see them.  I’m beginning to wonder what’s going on with the krewes.  I know they all like to save their throws for Canal Street but, you have to throw something to the rest of the route.

If you know you’re gonna ride, save your money (or better yet, recycle beads) so you can purchase ample enough throws for the entire route.

It’s getting to be kinda pathetic watching a float come down the street and you see two or three generic beads fly off of it.  I don’t know if it’s because of the economy or what,but if you want folks to come and see your parade…you have to throw.

We need the days when floats riders would throw so much that you couldn’t WAIT for them to pass you because they were unloading like crazy!

And there are some krewes that do that, like Thoth,Iris,etc. and they aren’t  super krewes.

Some of the others need to catch up and throw til it hurts!

I’m really behind on my information so, let me get right to it.

The parade cam is up and running  for anyone who wants to watch the parades. It’s located at St. Charles Ave and Napoleon which is a great spot.

You can view the parade cam here,

http://www.nola.com/paradecam/

You can also view it at Lee Circle here,

http://www.wdsu.com/weather/cams/lee-circle

Parade Schedule is,

Saturday, Jan. 26 1 p.m. – Pontchartrain 2 p.m. – Choctaw 6 p.m. – Sparta 6:45 p.m. – Pygmalion

Sunday, Jan. 27 Noon – Carollton 1:15 p.m. – King Arthur

Wednesday, Feb. 6 6:30 p.m. – Druids 7 p.m. – Nyx

Thursday, Feb. 7 5:45 p.m. – Babylon 6:30 p.m. – Chaos 6:30 p.m. – Muses

Friday, Feb. 8 6 p.m. – Hermes 6:30 p.m. – d’Etat 7 p.m. – Morpheus

Saturday, Feb. 9 11 a.m. – Iris Noon – Tucks

Sunday, Feb. 10 11 a.m. – Okeanos 11:45 a.m. – Mid-City Noon – Thoth 5:15 – Bacchus

Monday, Feb. 11 5:15 p.m. – Proteus 6 p.m. – Orpheus

Mardi Gras Day Fat Tuesday, 8:00-Zulu 10:00 a.m.-Rex and Truck Parade

Grandstand Parade tickets can be found here,

http://www.mardigrasparadetickets.com/?gclid=CIewmPqIh7UCFZGPPAodhkYAxQ

And last but not least, for all of my Purple Knights and their fans,

The Purple Knights, St. Augustine Marching 100 schedule is,

Date	Performance
January 1, 2013	Sugar Bowl Parade
January 12, 2013	Endymion Coronation Ball
January 25, 2013	Cleopatra Parade
January 26, 2013	Endymion Float Showing
January 26, 2013	Pygmalion Parade
January 28, 2013	RTA Street Car Dedication
January 30, 2013	NFL Experience (Convention Center)
February 2, 2013	Alla Parade
February 3, 2013	ESPN (Super Bowl Parade)
February 6, 2013	Nyx Parade
February 7, 2013	Muses Parade
February 8, 2013	Hermes Parade
February 9, 2013	Endymion Parade
February 10, 2013	Mid-City Parade
February 10, 2013	Bacchus Parade
February 11, 2013	Orpheus Parade
February 12, 2013	Zulu Parade HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!!!!!!

And The Winner is….

*throws purple,gold and green confetti*

Alrighty! We have a winner!!

I let PurpleKnight and Yellow Jacket draw the names out of the purse (Hail Nyx!).

I can’t believe those two knuckleheads actually started whining. They both wanted to pick the name so, we also have a runner-up in case the first place winner doesn’t contact me with their addy.

PK picked first place and YJ picked the runner-up.

Here are a few pics of the drawing,

 

 

The winner of my first blog giveaway is…VAL!!!!

Second place goes to Susanna (SP)!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Now Val, ya have one week to get your address to me . After a week, the prize goes to the second place winner.

Email me at Bayoucreole63@yahoo.com

Happy Mardi Gras!

You’re gonna love the King Cake!

*Y’all I’ve been trying to put this post out since 9 a.m.   Both of my computers are acting crazy so, I went to the library. The computer at the library  was acting crazy as well!  Hopefully, it will go definitely go out this time!

It’s been a rough morning.

 

 

 

 

 

Good Monday Randoms

Howdy!

I know I was supposed to give y’all a blog post Friday, but the weather here is giving me the blues.  My sinuses are really taking a beating with the fog. The fog is worse than the pollen is on my sinuses. I know it’s foggy even before I get out of the bed because, as soon as I open my eyes, I have a splitting headache.  

Since today is the first day since Friday that I’ve felt like a person, I’m giving everyone an extra day for the giveaway. I’ll do the drawing Tuesday night and announce the winner Wednesday morning.

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Well, what’s left of it.  The city held a parade today and there was a shooting yet again.  This is really getting old. Every year there seems to be a shooting on MLK day. I’ve never gone to the parade because of the shootings.  I don’t know if I’ll ever go to see it.

Today, we witnessed the 2nd Inauguration of President Obama.  I only managed to catch a few glimpses of the ceremony.  Drifting in and out of sleep, trying to get rid of sinus pressure kept me from watching the television.  

What I did manage to see though was beautiful!  I’m sure the ceremony is on the internet somewhere. I’ll have to catch in it online.

The city is in overdrive getting ready for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras.  It should be a very interesting event.

Not as interesting as it would have been if the Falcons were coming.  Although if I had to go by my twitter and FB timelines, it may be a good thing that they didn’t make it.

Some people were brutal! Man!  

Mardi Gras flags are flying high! Today I spotted 1 Rex, 1 Nyx, 2 Endymion and 4 Muses flags.  Although, I have to admit, I see Muses flags year round. I expect to see more Nyx flags flying in the near future.

Parades are in full effect this weekend. The Krewe of King Arthur rolls Sunday, January 27th. NS and I were supposed to ride but, we decided against it this year. The krewe suffered some hurricane damage and won’t have as many floats on the streets. We’re gonna wait until next year to ride.

I’ll still be out on the parade route supporting them though. They’re a great krewe! 

That’s all I have for now…my head is still fuzzy.

I’ll be posting more frequently now that parades are rolling and the Super Bowl is around the corner!

I love this time of year.

Last chance for comments!

 

 

 

 

The Weight Of My Denial

Yesterday, I watched a documentary on PBS called Soul Food Junkies. In a nutshell it’s a documentary regarding the food that African-Americans eat (soul food) and how unhealthy it is.  Most of the things in the documentary I already knew. Being in the nursing profession, I’ve seen the ramifications of a diet high in saturated fats and low in fiber all too often.

I never was a person to  consume pig feet, chitterlings,pig lips or turkey necks like so many of my friends. I’m also not that big on what’s considered Soul Food. I can take or leave fried chicken, black-eyed peas,mac and cheese, and the like.

Still, I’m not the healthiest eater.

I have a terrible sweet tooth and I really need to eat more fruits and veggies.

I’ve been trying to correct that but, it’s a really slow process.

And while I’m not big on soul food, after watching the documentary I realized that,I do have an addiction to Creole Cuisine.

I didn’t realize how bad the addiction was until I had to shop for an evening gown for the Nyx Ball. When I began looking for dresses to try on, I figured I wasn’t in my usual size 3-4 anymore. I’ve been having fibroid tumors for a while  and my abdomen area isn’t as flat as it used to be. I picked up a few dresses in 5/6 and a few in 7/8 just to be on the safe side. I was totally floored when the size 7/8 dresses didn’t fit.  I reluctantly picked up a 9/10 and tried it on.

It was a perfect fit.

Still, it couldn’t be me.  Even though the scale said that I had gained weight,I attributed it to the fibroids.  There was no way I was actually in a size  9/10 dress.

I drove  home screaming about, how horrible it was that companies today are deliberately making dresses smaller, to make it appear that women are larger than what they actually are.

“I don’t gain weight so, I know it’s those frigging companies! Where is my tape measure?!”

I took the tape measure and measured my waist.

“Well, I expect my WAIST to be larger, I have fibroids!”

Then, I took the tape measure and measured my hips,

O_O

what happened to my 34″ hips?

How da hell I have 39 1/2 ” hips!?!

Still, that CAN’T be a size 10!

*goes to a computer and pull up women’s clothing chart*

O_O

Well, of course the charts are gonna say that!

I know what! I have a pair of shorts in the closet that I could never wear because they were too big!

*goes to the closet,pulls out shorts and put them on*

O_O

I’m still coming to grips with the fact that, I’m in a size 10.

I was in total denial because I did not “feel”  any larger.

I was still wearing the same clothes because most of my pants are baggy.

Nothing felt tight on me except shirts…but that’s because I have fibroids (I blamed fibroids for everything.)

I know I have some work ahead of me.

I have to get these extra pounds off of me and get my love for creole cuisine under control.

Because as much as I love eating it,

I love living more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Silence is Deafening

I always thought that I’d love it when my kids were grown.  I come from a fairly large family and there was always a bunch of kids hanging around.  My parents raised 7 of us in this house and then when we began to have kids, my nephews and nieces were always here…mostly the boys. And they were pretty rambunctious  so yeah, it was always pretty loud in this house.  My kids and their first cousins were always getting into something around here.

Most of my nieces and nephews are grown now and beginning to have families of their own.  They aren’t around as much and the family is beginning to splinter off.   I was sort of prepared for that part though. At least there’s Facebook because, we talk often using that site.

What is throwing me for a loop is my own Empty Nest Syndrome.  My kids are grown and the house is so quiet. YellowJacket has been staying by her dad’s house (she’s driving now and her dad has put wheels under her so she’s nesting there) and PurpleKnight is rarely home between working and going to school.  In the fall, he’s going away to college and won’t be here at all.

The house is so still.

The stillness of this house is hitting me like a ton of bricks.

I can only imagine how hard it was for my mom.  It must have been hell for her. My mom had kids around her from 1951 until three months before she died in 2002.  A lot of times, I think that’s what killed her spirit to live….this big, quiet ass house.

It’s obvious that I’m entering another phase of my life.

My third transition.

I have to let it sink in that it’s truly my time now and revamp.   It’s gonna take some effort, much more than I thought.

I don’t think I’ll ever leave New Orleans.

There is always something festive to do here.

And I’m gonna need her to keep me company.

Because the silence around here is deafening.

Nyx Myx Masquerade Ball and King Cake Giveaway

The Mystic Krewe of Nyx’s Nyx Myx Masquerade Ball was held Saturday at the Riverside Hilton.

How do you put such a wonderful event into words?

Words would never capture how awesome the event was so, I’m gonna let some pictures tell most of the story.

The ball was from 7:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m.

I know y’all used to seeing the ole’ BayouCreole in jeans and sneakers hanging at the festivals, parades and stuff.

This was a formal affair with mask required. We had to glam it up.

nyx myx ball

The ballroom was beautifully decorated. Everyone was given a Krewe of Nyx light up martini glass.

It wasn’t until I started looking at the pictures the day after the ball did I realize that, the ballroom was decorated to match the Captain’s gown.

Captain Julie Lea, Nyx Goddess II Lauren “fleuty girl” Thom,Board of Directors and Grand Marshall Laura Buchtel

The evening began with Cocktails and Hors d’oeuvres.  It was a great way to mingle and meet so many fabulous Nyx sisters. Everyone looked beautiful.

The presentation of the Float Lieutenants,Grand Marshall,Nyx Goddess,Board of Directors and Captain followed.

The ladies threw beads as they were presented. I was hit on the head with a bead and became a little misty as I said to myself,

“I was just hit on the head with a bead… it’s REALLY carnival time!”

John Mac’s Marching Trojans ushered the Mardi Gras mood into the room as they played throughout the ballroom.

The float lieutenants second lined afterwards.  Everyone was so happy…the energy was palpable.

The ball consisted of a seated dinner. I was a little leery of that at first because I’m such a picky eater.

Y’all the food was off the chain!

The main course was Grilled Tenderloin of Beef and Grilled Chicken Medallion,Wine Laced Mushrooms, Wild Rice Risotto and Vegetable Medley

Dessert followed with a Trio of Flourless Chocolate Cake, Praline Cheesecake and Carrot Cake

After dinner, it was on and popping!

The Captain and Nyx Goddess changed their outfits. The gowns they wore were so pretty!

photo compliments of Lauren Thom

Everyone packed the dance floor and partied like crazy!! Music was provided by The Mojeaux’s and they really brought the house down!

The dance floor STAYED packed!

 Even our Nyx Goddess was out there shaking a tail feather!

We broke out into a huge electric slide! That was a lot of fun considering by that time, a lot of us were pretty liquored up.

 

The guy that has his head turned is actually following me. He couldn’t keep up so I became his wing person…lol

He was so sweet…gave me a big hug after the dance!

Around 1 a.m there was a breakfast buffet. Missed pics of that somehow but it was delicious! Grits, eggs,bacon, sausage, hash browns and muffins.

NavySeal and I left the ball somewhere around 2  o’clock. I would have stayed longer  but, I had to go work in a few hours.

To say that I had a wonderful time would be such an understatement.  The Nyx Myx Ball was everything and MORE!  They paid attention to every detail and the Hilton’s staff was excellent!

Kudos to the ladies for putting on such a magnificent ball! I will remember that night forever!

Nyx Sisters rock big time.  I’m glad to be a sister-in-waiting.  I can’t wait to be up there on the floats with them. They’ll hit the streets February 6th and I’m sure they will light the city up so, be sure to go out and catch’em!

And if you made it this far, the KING CAKE GIVEAWAY OFFICIALLY BEGINS TODAY!  I’ll post every day this week and every time you comment, I’ll put your name  in the hat(lawd, what am I gonna write about for an entire week?). At the end of the week, I’ll draw and announce the winner next Monday.   Once I announce the winner, you have one week to send me your addy info so I can get the king cake to you.  Randazzo’s…of course.

Y’all better comment because, Reggie is a FREQUENT commenter and he’s gonna battle y’all for that king cake for sure!  The Oracle is about to come out of lurker status for it too…lol

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!

Happy Mardi Gras Y’all.

Happy New Year and What’s Happening Randoms

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Welcome 2013!   I am so glad that the new year is here.  Honestly,I don’t feel like I accomplished anything in 2012. Most of the time, I felt as if I was spinning my wheels and not moving. I’m sure if I racked my brain hard enough, I’d be able to think of something.

I shouldn’t have to rack my brain though.

I’m gonna try to do better and be better this year.

This year is a milestone year for me.

I’ll be the BIG 5-0 this year!

Any day above ground is a gift but, I’m really looking forward to turning 50 this year!

I welcome getting older…just want to be as healthy and physically fit as possible while doing it.

Also, this will be my 5th year blogging!

Lawd, how have I been blogging for 5 years!?!

Good ole’ NOLA has helped me with that…she’s always throwing some sort of party.

So what’s happening with me and mine?

Well for starters, my dad has been wonderful!

He’s more like his old self…maybe even better.  He hasn’t been forgetful or argumentative so, that in itself  is a blessed thing.  I think the new meds he’s on are helping him out a lot.  He’s been spoiling PurpleKnight and YellowJacket so, they’re in 7th heaven right about now.

Mardi Gras is in the air!

Oh, I almost forgot that I’m keeping positive carnival karma around me….so,

Krewe of Nyx!

Every time I mention Mardi Gras I’m supposed to say,

KREWE OF NYX!

It’s to keep positive energy heading this way so, I can move up their waiting list.

Keeping that positive energy out there is slowly paying off.  Take a look at the pic,

I’ve heard from the Krewe!

Don’t break out the umbrellas and start second-lining  just yet though.  I’m a non-riding member of the krewe until I can get a riding spot. I’m happy with that because a lot of women are wishing membership would open up again…at least my foot is in the door. They even sent me a members only t-shirt and I get to go to the events which is cool because

Navy Seal and I are going to the Nyx Myx Masquerade Ball!

Whoo Hoo!

Gotta get all glammed up for that one! Ball Gown,Tuxedo and Mask type of party!!

Finding a dress is gonna be hard as heck because I’m so damned short petite but, I’m gonna find something.

I’m so excited to go!  I can’t wait!

Today is the official start of my countdown to King Cake with 5 days to go!

I’ve decided  to rev up this here ole’ blog a bit and follow the lead of my blog sister, LadyLee and do a giveaway!

That’s right!

I’m going to give away a Randazzo’s Kingcake!

All ya have to do is comment on the posts and I’ll put your name in the hat to be drawn. Each time you comment, I’ll put your name in so, the more, the better. At the end of the week, I’ll draw the name  and announce the winner!

This is the perfect opportunity for anyone who wants a King Cake to get a free one!  If you’ve never had one, here’s your chance to try it!

This is only for folks in the USA though, I can’t ship out of the country.  I’ll have more details regarding the giveaway at the end of the week. It will probably be near the first weekend of Mardi Gras which is Jan 26 th so keep your eyes out for the giveaway post!

PurpleKnight and YellowJacket are fine. They’re doing their own thing now.  They’ve both decided to go to the same college next fall and room together.

Those two ….can’t live with and can’t live without.

I’m glad they’re so close.

My dog-abusing neighbors have moved!

Yay!

I’m  happy they’re gone.

I’m so glad I rescued my doggie from those crazy folks.

He’s living a wonderful life now.

We have some wonderful people staying in the house now. Real quiet family and respectful of the neighborhood.  Last night they popped fireworks and  swept the street afterwards.

Now that’s some thoughtful neighbors!

That’s all I have for now…I’ll be posting more frequently.

With Mardi Gras season here and the Super Bowl coming, I’m sure I’ll have lots to tell!

Have a blessed 2013 y’all!